Non-lethal vs Regen

[marune]

Ok, Let's say I'm a powerfull fighter with no fire or acid attacks..

With my sword I do a LOT of non-lethal damage to the troll, then he falls unconcious on the ground (let's say he has 80 hit point and I have done 86 non-lethal damage).

At the next round, he now has 81 points of non-lethal damage (still unconcious). I'm so powerfull that I hit him for 50 points of non-lethal damage, and so on..

Now the questions, can I bring it to ... 500 points of non-lethal ?
(At this point, I have.. 100 rounds to run before he gets up...)

The tactic my players is using is somelike like this, doing lot of non-lethal to be safe to kill them with fire damage when they are already unconcsious... is it correct?

 

[Christian]

Yup-there's no limit to the amount of non-lethal damage you can do. Best plan to use if you don't have any high-damage acid or fire attacks, too. Chop until you can't chop any more, then throw them trollburgers on the barbeque!

 

[Scion]

drowning can also be a good plan.

But then, so long as your fighter guy can keep mincing have someone build a fire and toss the bits on.

If they stop doing damage for awhile then the troll has a chance to wake up. After all, it is only non-lethal damage (I so prefered the term subdual..lol) and so there is a chance after a certain period of time even without regen kicking off points pretty quickly.

 

[werk]

Why not just set em on fire when they are knocked out? Give someone an oil can and a torch.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Also, eventually, the troll might begin to suffocate. That'll kill him, as well.

 

[werk]

Sorry for the hi-jack...

If a creature is unconcious from sustaining non-lethal damage in excess of it's hitpoints, how much lethal damage is required to kill it?

You knock your troll down to -10hp of non-lethal damage, can you kill it with an acid splash or do you need to drain it's whole hp pool using the lethal damage type?

 

[Scion]

non-lethal is tracked seperately than your hp total.

When your amount of non-lethal is equal or greater than your hp total then you fall unconscious.

It doesnt actually do any real hp damage.

So, no matter how much non-lethal damage you have on you it still takes the same amount of real damage to kill you, your current hp +10.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

You knock your troll down to -10hp of non-lethal damage, can you kill it with an acid splash or do you need to drain it's whole hp pool using the lethal damage type?

Talk to your DM about performing a CDG with your acid splash - since it's a weapon-like spell, it can score critical hits. The only question is whether or not it's useable in a CDG - I'd allow it, but some DMs might not.* The troll would need to make a Fort save of 10 + damage dealt (or, on average, 10 + 4 = 14). He'll probably make it, but eventually he'll miss it.

*:

Coup de Grace: As a full-round action, you can use a melee weapon to deliver a coup de grace to a helpless opponent. You can also use a bow or crossbow, provided you are adjacent to the target.

 

[jgsugden]

You must deal enough lethal damage to the creature to kil it. It isn't like the Baldur's Gate games where you just had to finish it with fire.

For strategy: Regenerating creatures that breath can suffocate or drown. If you take a troll down to a few hundred negative hit points and toss it in a bag, then toss it in a lake, it'll drown, eventually ... if it doesn't regenerate first.

 

[werk]

It isn't like the Baldur's Gate games where you just had to finish it with fire.

Ah...you've seen through me. I guess I'll have to go back to our old strategy of nailing them to wagons/trees/immovable objects when they are unconcious.


This all reminds me of discussions I've had about how to kill the x-men's wolverine...fire, acid, or drowning.